10 ways German cars rule the road

Who else but Mercedes could get away with using "The best or nothing" for its advertising tag line? It ranks up there with BMW's historic and enduring "ultimate driving machine." Even if the claims aren't always true, they underscore a level of ambition that cars from no other country can match. As one Zurich newspaper put it a few years ago, cars are as central to Germany as secret bank accounts are to Switzerland.

NEXT: 8. The price is very nearly the object